Bob Voltmann Sean Kelley on Handling Man Power – Work Force Issues in Dealerships
Transcript
Bob : The number one shortage in the United States and Canada, our people, we went from having a growing population. We were the only western country with a net positive growth to a shrinking population. We almost overnight started looking like Europe. We need people, we need people to get off the couch and go back to work. We need new immigrants. And we need to be able to have that debate at an adult level in our nation’s capital, but everybody did you ever in your life in your life is not as long as mine has been but did you ever in your life, think you would see McDonald’s offering a signing bonus? n
nSean : I never never thought I’d see itn
nBob : I worked at McDonald’s as a kid to earn date money was not a career.n
nSean : I was at Hardee’s. I thought it was going to be my career. But now I’m just getting the love. No, that’s a really great point. And we wonder, you know, what should we offer a signing bonus for a technician? I mean, it’s a no brainer, right? If McDonald’s is doing it, and then if youndon’t have one, and you can’t service the car without itu2026n
nBob : It becomes a redundant question. n
nSean : Yeah, and, you know, to your point, we just had a really interesting thing play out with one of our dealer service departments where, you know, they had a union negotiation, and five technicians quit, supposedly, because the union negotiation, well, we went, we did a little, I guess, post, you know, post career interview with each of them and found out that it was the they quit the culture, the union negotiation had nothing to do with it. n
nSo we worked to develop the culture and ended up being able to bring them back in the same pay as they left that, that the union contract was agreed, but it was the culture. And I think, you know, dealers are either going to have to invest a bunch of money to recruit the right people and replace them, or you can invest in the ones you have and try to build that team in that culture. And if and if you do that, what we see is that it actually attracts people, you don’t have to go out and find them anymore, because people want, the word gets out, right? It’s that small world of the car business. What’s the use of some of the dealers that you get to work with? What’s best practice around building an amazing culture? What do you see that worth?n
nRob : It? It’s all different. But it’s building on their superpower. It’s service, it’s knowing who their people are. It’s, it’s being flexible. It’s, you know, at an independent dealership, that culture is much different than being at a franchise dealership. It’s more family. It’s it’s, it’s, I don’t want to say an easier pace, but it’s a different pace. So again, they have to know their superpower. And I read recently that one of the phrases that, that we all have to learn in business is when somebody leaves, instead of saying goodbye. Tell them they’re welcome to come back. Well, because we have just like we have a shortage of vehicles, we have a shortage of people who are willing to work. And that’s going to continue to get worse, not better, rarely, a seeable future unless, until we open, you know, and bring in more immigrants that can do those jobs, or figure out what motivates someone to come back into the workforce. But there’s some 2 million baby boomers that left the workforce during the pandemic and have not come back.n
nSean : You know what I love about what you just said there, what motivates them to come back into the workforce. There was a real, love this one Bob, there was a dealer in mind, we had a master certified technician. He’d been there for 30-40 years, a long time. And literally, he was about to quit. And we had a similar kind of myself in that the service manager said I want them and you know, hey, well, what would it take for you to stay and if you, if you, is like, well, (employee says), there’s no way you do that. And you’re like, do what right? n
nWe just listened to him and it was, and that’s what family does right when there’s, I love what you said about mainly because family listens to one another and cares about one another and tries to help each other achieve their goal. So we said no, we care what is it that we could do if anything, imagine anything’s possible. He said, well, I get really cold in the winter up here in New Jersey. And if I can just go down to Florida for a month or two during the winter with my wife out of state or or winter home, come back and we’ll be a tech again. After that I’d stay here until I could no longer turn a wrench and the sort of standard like u201cdoneu201d. And he’s still there today. That was two, three years ago.n
nRob : Right? If you have a good employee, do whatever you can to keep them because it’s going to be harder and harder to replace them.nn
nSean : I never never thought I’d see itn
nBob : I worked at McDonald’s as a kid to earn date money was not a career.n
nSean : I was at Hardee’s. I thought it was going to be my career. But now I’m just getting the love. No, that’s a really great point. And we wonder, you know, what should we offer a signing bonus for a technician? I mean, it’s a no brainer, right? If McDonald’s is doing it, and then if youndon’t have one, and you can’t service the car without itu2026n
nBob : It becomes a redundant question. n
nSean : Yeah, and, you know, to your point, we just had a really interesting thing play out with one of our dealer service departments where, you know, they had a union negotiation, and five technicians quit, supposedly, because the union negotiation, well, we went, we did a little, I guess, post, you know, post career interview with each of them and found out that it was the they quit the culture, the union negotiation had nothing to do with it. n
nSo we worked to develop the culture and ended up being able to bring them back in the same pay as they left that, that the union contract was agreed, but it was the culture. And I think, you know, dealers are either going to have to invest a bunch of money to recruit the right people and replace them, or you can invest in the ones you have and try to build that team in that culture. And if and if you do that, what we see is that it actually attracts people, you don’t have to go out and find them anymore, because people want, the word gets out, right? It’s that small world of the car business. What’s the use of some of the dealers that you get to work with? What’s best practice around building an amazing culture? What do you see that worth?n
nRob : It? It’s all different. But it’s building on their superpower. It’s service, it’s knowing who their people are. It’s, it’s being flexible. It’s, you know, at an independent dealership, that culture is much different than being at a franchise dealership. It’s more family. It’s it’s, it’s, I don’t want to say an easier pace, but it’s a different pace. So again, they have to know their superpower. And I read recently that one of the phrases that, that we all have to learn in business is when somebody leaves, instead of saying goodbye. Tell them they’re welcome to come back. Well, because we have just like we have a shortage of vehicles, we have a shortage of people who are willing to work. And that’s going to continue to get worse, not better, rarely, a seeable future unless, until we open, you know, and bring in more immigrants that can do those jobs, or figure out what motivates someone to come back into the workforce. But there’s some 2 million baby boomers that left the workforce during the pandemic and have not come back.n
nSean : You know what I love about what you just said there, what motivates them to come back into the workforce. There was a real, love this one Bob, there was a dealer in mind, we had a master certified technician. He’d been there for 30-40 years, a long time. And literally, he was about to quit. And we had a similar kind of myself in that the service manager said I want them and you know, hey, well, what would it take for you to stay and if you, if you, is like, well, (employee says), there’s no way you do that. And you’re like, do what right? n
nWe just listened to him and it was, and that’s what family does right when there’s, I love what you said about mainly because family listens to one another and cares about one another and tries to help each other achieve their goal. So we said no, we care what is it that we could do if anything, imagine anything’s possible. He said, well, I get really cold in the winter up here in New Jersey. And if I can just go down to Florida for a month or two during the winter with my wife out of state or or winter home, come back and we’ll be a tech again. After that I’d stay here until I could no longer turn a wrench and the sort of standard like u201cdoneu201d. And he’s still there today. That was two, three years ago.n
nRob : Right? If you have a good employee, do whatever you can to keep them because it’s going to be harder and harder to replace them.nn